A Maryland man is now in police custody after a group of middle school students heroically saved their classmate from an attempted kidnapping, Law And Crime reported.
On Monday, students were waiting at a school bus stop in Gaithersburg, Maryland when they saw a man grab one of their classmates and try to pull them to a nearby apartment building. Several of them immediately began intervening, yelling and refusing to let go of their classmate until the man fled.
After the students arrived to their school and reported the incident to staff, 30-year-old Jamaal Germany was located and arrested. He’s now facing charges of attempted kidnapping, and is being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center awaiting his arraignment.
According to one of the children’s parents, Germany had been there a week beforehand, making threats to both children and adults. “It’s totally disturbing,” a neighbor commented. “You don’t expect to hear things like that happening, in general, so close to home. We know things happen in the world. It’s very unsettling when it happens close to your community.”
In a letter to parents, the Montgomery County Public Schools explained what had occurred, the arrest that followed, and what the next steps were to ensure that similar incidents would be prevented. “There will continue to be an increased security presence by both MCPS and MCPD today and tomorrow at the impacted bus stop,” it stated.
